Poor communication: Toby’s story

Poor communication between staff and service users or carers can also trigger challenging behaviour. Communication should be clear and appropriate for the client group concerned. Consider this scenario:

Toby has autism and is currently in an NHS assessment and treatment unit. He’s been asking all morning if his mum is coming to visit.

The nurse is in the middle of the drug round and so needs to concentrate and doesn’t have time to discuss it. As Toby asks once again about his mum the nurse responds with “I’ll talk to you about it in a minute”.

Toby walks off, one minute later he returns and asks if she’ll talk to him about his mum. The nurse replies “not now Toby, in a bit”.

Now start the video to watch the scenario. As you do so, use the tool provided to note the factors that could have led to the aggressive or challenging behaviour seen. Write your answers as single words in the boxes provided and then press the "Save" button.

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